PASADENA — Shares of KiOR Inc. advanced Tuesday after the renewable fuels company said its manufacturing facility in Columbus, Miss., will start operations in September.

KiOR is developing a platform to convert non-food biomass into oil. It said the Columbus facility will begin providing gas and diesel in the fourth quarter. It also said the costs of building the facility will be about 4 percent less than expected. The company had been planning to open the facility in the second half of 2012.

The company’s stock climbed 47 cents, or 5.9 percent, to $8.45 in morning trading. Earlier KiOR shares gained as much as 12.3 percent.

KiOR also reported its second-quarter results, saying it lost $23 million, or 22 cents per share, in the most recent quarter. A year ago it took a loss of $40.6 million, or 43 cents per share. KiOR went public in June 2011, and its results from the second quarter of that year included a $19.7 million loss related to the conversion of preferred shares. It did not have any revenue in either quarter.

Analysts expected the company to report a loss of 24 cents per share.